Journal Entry 1: Infant physical and cognitive development
My baby, with the name Carol, had different feeding, sleeping, and motor development throughout her development stages. On eating, I started with breastfeeding her, which is usual for all babies. She gained weight steadily and weighs just a little under 21.5 pounds at eight months old with steady growth. The steady growth and appropriate weight gain can be attributed to a myriad of factors. Prominent among these factors is my decision to breastfeed her solely with breast milk. According to Santrock (2018), the Association of American Pediatricians recommends breast milk as the primary basis of body nutrient and energy drive for babies during the first six months after birth mainly due to its essential benefits such as appropriate weight gain, reduced child obesity as well as gastrointestinal and respiratory infections. Although highly contended, many health officials believe that breastfeeding also helps in healthy mother-child attachment development (Wittig & Spatz, 2008).
After nine months, Carol was able to eat different types of light food substances perhaps ensured that Carol takes in the adequate calories necessary for growth. That is, it is recommended that infants consume 50 calories per day for every pound of weight they gain. Her eating patterns are comparable to the typical patterns associated with her age. My partner and I have been very sensitive to her nutritional needs, and cautious as to what we feed her as research findings have indicated that insensitivity to infant nutrition by caregivers results in infant eating problems and ultimately has implications for higher obesity in adolescence. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
On the other side of the sleeping pattern, she used to sleep for two hours at a time. She used to be awake for more time than other babies. However, babies should have a sleep of about sixteen to seventeen hours daily, those who are less than two years sleep an average time of twelve hours, but when they are about six months, they should have their sleep throughout the night. But also, I noticed from Carol that babies use half of their sleep time in rapid eye movement, which also stimulates them to sleep as well as brain development. Sleep is linked to child cognitive development and functioning as it promotes brain maturation and memory consolidation, which most likely improves their learning and alertness during the day. According to Sadeh, (2007), poor sleep among babies is likely to cause language delays, and infant sleep difficulties are linked to adverse outcomes later in development (e.g., lower attention regulation and behavioral problems at ages 3 and 4 years); infants with poor sleep showed attention orienting difficulties at four months and distractibility problems at 18 months, and infants with poor sleep showed emotional dysregulation at 2 & 3years, and poor attention functioning in elementary school (Galland et al. 2012).
On motor development, Carol had an incredible effort to make use of her motor skills. She was an active crawler and is always on the go. We have to keep an eye on her because we are afraid she might get into something and get hurt. Also, Carol enjoyed throwing toys that were around her and watched what could happen. Babies develop their motor skills through a series of actions and activities like rolling, sitting, and standing within a specific period. According to (Santrock 2018), this was postulated mainly by Arnold Gesell, who believed that motor skills develop through the unfolding of genetic plans or maturation. More recent and contemporary research findings, however, have countered this assertion. According to the dynamic theory, as explained in (Santrock, 2018), babies develop their motor skills through actions and perceptions mainly because they are driven by a goal or something in their environment which they must act to achieve. That is, to move in achieving the perceived goal, infants must develop their motor skills, hence “motor skills represent a pathway to infants pursuing a goal” (Santrock, 2018). For example, seeing a toy across a room from them, infants are motivated to get to the toy hence develops the skills to get there either by crawling, rolling, or walking. That is, other than a mere genetic unfolding, infant’s motor skills are influenced by factors like the development of the nervous system and their ability to move for him/her to be able to satisfy his goal.
References
Galland, B., Taylor, B., Edler, D., & Herbison, P. (2012). Normal Sleep Pattern in infants and children: A systematic review of observational studies. Sleep Medicine Review, 16, 213-222.
Sadeh, A. (2007). Consequences of sleep loss or sleep disruption in children. Sleep Medicine, 2, 513-520.
Santrock, J. W. (2018). Essentials of Life-Span Development (Fifth ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Wittig, S., & Spatz, D. (2008). Induced lactation: Gaining a better understanding. The Journal of Maternal Child Nursing, 33, 76-81.